Building your own tomato house

Contents

1.  Tomatoes are our favorite garden vegetables, but unfortunately they are often attacked by brown rot. In a tomato house they stay healthy and deliver delicious fruit for weeks. So you can build a tomato house yourself.
   1. A tomato house protects against wind and weather
   2. Step by step: Building your own tomato house
   3. Tips for growing tomatoes

 Tomatoes are our favorite garden vegetables, but unfortunately they are often attacked by brown rot. In a tomato house they stay healthy and deliver delicious fruit for weeks. So you can build a tomato house yourself.

a tomato house, whether home-grown or purchased, offers tomatoes optimal growing conditions. 

Because the most important prerequisite for a successful tomato summer is a sunny, warm place where a light breeze blows constantly. 

A tomato house open at the sides offers plenty of draught, but the tomatoes are protected from driving rain and thunderstorms. 

Even at the height of summer, the temperatures below never rise above 35 degrees. In the greenhouse, 

however, heat is often the cause of hollow or malformed fruit.

A tomato house protects against wind and weather

Tomato diseases like brown rot are spread by wind and rain. 

There is no one hundred percent protection against them. 

Even in the greenhouse, infestation cannot be ruled out, and other fungal pathogens can also multiply rapidly due to the higher humidity there. 

However, the disease usually progresses much more slowly under glass or foil.

Ready-made tomato greenhouses are available in the trade, 

but with a little craftsmanship you can also build a tomato house yourself - the material is available for little money at the hardware store.

Step by step: Building your own tomato house

Drive in the post sleeves (left) and align the ground anchors horizontally (right)

Drive in the post sleeves (left) and align the ground anchors horizontally (right)

For the tomato house, cut the grass on a rectangular area. 

The house should face south. At the beginning, the post pods are beaten into the ground with a sledgehammer. 

A hammering aid prevents the metal from being damaged in the process. 

If you put a batten over the ground anchors, it is easy to check with a spirit level whether they are all at the same height. 

Only then are the large squared timbers inserted and screwed tight. 

Before doing so, shorten two of the timbers so that the roof has a slight inclination later.

First build the basic structure for the tomato house (left). The roof beams are fixed with metal brackets (right)

First build the basic structure for the tomato house (left). The roof beams are fixed with metal brackets (right)

Using squared timbers and metal brackets you now connect the base frame at the top end to form a frame. 

The attachment of intermediate strips provides stability. When cutting the translucent corrugated sheeting to size, 

make sure that it protrudes slightly beyond the wooden construction. 

A rain gutter can be attached to the eaves to collect rainwater.

Stephan Eckert

A gutter at the rear edge of the tomato house collects rainwater for watering

Tips for growing tomatoes

For tall tomato varieties, it makes sense to bind the young shoots to a pole so that they grow straight and have sufficient stability. 

After all, by the time the first fruits ripen, the skyrockets have a lot of weight to carry. 

The sprouting of tomatoes is a regular duty. 

In this process, secondary shoots that grow in the leaf axils are carefully clipped out with the fingers. 

This promotes an even growth of fruit and stem.

MSG/Martin Staffler

Even when growing tomatoes in old barrels a rain roof is mandatory

Depending on the variety, the fruits are harvested between June and October. 

Flowers that appear from the end of August should be removed. 

The tomatoes would no longer ripen, but would still extract nutrients and water from the soil. 

Many varieties can also be cultivated in tubs. Important: Tomatoes need a lot of sun, water and fertilizer. 

However, they do not like stagnant moisture, so that sufficient water drainage should be provided. 

A covered space is also ideal for tomatoes in pots.